Just after the Nicene Creed, the priest emerges from the holy altar, lifts up his hands, and invites us: “Let us give thanks to the Lord!” We respond: “It is fitting and right.” The priest then re-enters the holy altar and begins the great prayer of the Eucharist, called the Holy Anaphora prayer. This prayer culminates in the consecration of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, which we will later receive with great love and thanksgiving.
During this Thanksgiving season, could anything be more “fitting and right” than giving thanks to the Lord for His many gifts to us and the world? It seems obvious, but a careful analysis of this question brings forth another question: Why? Some can give thanks for their health, but not all are healthy. Some can give thanks for their family, but many are lonely. Some can give thanks for their food, but many are hungry. Some can give thanks for their safe home, but many, such as the suffering Christians in the Middle East, do not have homes anymore. Are we then to only give partial thanks? Is God only giving His gifts partially?
To answer, we must search for the deepest meaning of this giving of thanks. We discover it in the Eucharistic Anaphora prayer itself: “You brought us from nothingness into being, and when we fell away, You raised us up again; You brought us to Heaven, and granted us Your Kingdom which is to come.”
Think of it: there was nothingness, just the blackness of nonexistence. Then in His infinite love, He created us. We had joy and peace, but through sin, brought misery and death into the world. We turned away, but He turned to us, ascended the Cross and raised us up again. And at the end of all this? He has granted us a Kingdom of eternal joy! Truly this is cause for giving thanks.
But some struggle with this claim. Some see this world of pain and death, and ask: “Why should I give thanks to a God who made this sad world? If God is so good, why did He create life when He knew it would be so full of pain? This is no cause for giving thanks. The world is just the way it is, and it’s not fair.”
The Anaphora prayer responds, “He gave Himself up for the life of the world…He took bread in His blameless hands, broke it, and gave it to His disciples” – Christ’s broken Body. He then gave them the cup, His precious Blood, shed for us and the remission of our sins.
We give thanks because the God Who created the whole thing—sad and broken as the world has become since the Fall of Adam and Eve—is the One Who Himself takes on all the world’s pain and sorrow. The Creator suffers for the creation. This is how life is “fair”, and why we give thanks. One of the Lenten hymns says it all: “The King of Kings comes to be slain, offered as food for the faithful.” He offers Himself—His broken Body and spilled Blood—and in so doing, turns every sorrow into joy. Christ's Body and Blood becomes the Thanksgiving feast of that Kingdom which is to come, the victory over sin and death. He sets the Thanksgiving table at every Divine Liturgy: the Kingdom to come, present every Sunday at church. Come and feast!
This Thanksgiving, amid the joy of friends and family, take a moment to remember the eternal feast of joy in Christ’s Kingdom—and let us give thanks to the Lord. And when we remember our brethren: the ill, the hungry, the lonely, and the homeless, let us also give thanks to the Lord on their behalf, for their sufferings are a sharing in Christ's sufferings. They too can give thanks to the Lord, because those who suffer for Christ, above all, can expect to hear these blessed words in that coming Kingdom: “For God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)